As It Adapts to Information Age,
Lockheed Fumbles Key Project

BETHESDA, Md. -- In 2004, Lockheed Martin Corp. won an Army spy-plane contract that broke with the past. Lockheed, the maker of such legendary surveillance planes as the U-2, wouldn't actually build the new model. Instead it would serve as the "lead integrator" -- stuffing somebody else's hardware with high-tech eavesdropping gear.

The spy plane was supposed to symbolize Lockheed's skill at harnessing information-age technology for the battlefield, a big goal at the Pentagon these days. But Lockheed engineers...